Interaction between environmental stresses on Phaeodactylum tricornutum: applications for green economy

Microalgae are proposed for multiple biotechnological applications, e.g. as feed for aquaculture, thanks to their ability to produce high-value molecules, such as proteins, lipids and polyphenols. Among microalgae, diatoms produce biomass rich in lipid and fucoxanthin, have a high growth rate, and are the only known organisms to produce a porous silica cell wall. This unique cell wall is itself a promising material, currently being studied as a nanomaterial for different applications, e.g. membrane filtration. Phaeodactylum tricornutum is peculiar among diatoms thanks to its ability to change morphotypes under different environmental conditions, with only one morphotype being silicified. It is also widely known that abiotic stress can enhance the accumulation of valuable metabolites. Thus, P. tricornutum plasticity makes it an optimal candidate for multiple biotechnological applications. In this work, we studied light and salinity stress interactions on the growth of P. tricornutum.